


Christmas Chaos

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 13:18:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17023326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Trouble takes his protege to the Winter Village. Princess and Viktor belong to sso_Viktor7.





	Christmas Chaos

In the dimness of Jorvik Stables, a fleabitten grey connemara mare suddenly raised her head, flicking an ear at the sound of hooves clip-clopping over the cobblestone pathway outside of the stable. She looked towards the doors, giving a friendly nicker as she sensed the presence of her mentor in all things trouble. As the sound of a horse lipping at the stable door's latch could be heard, Princess pranced a little in her stall, unable to keep her hooves still. Her tail swished as her skin twitched with excitement, shaking her head and giving little nickers every time a noise came at the door.

"Princess," Phantom chided, pinning his ears as he looked at the little mare. Viktor had Champion out today, training with his best friend. But Princess ignored him, if only because Phantom acted exactly the same when a particular snowy white Andalusian gelding showed up. But Princess was merely excited to see her mentor. Besides, Trouble had a boyfriend.

At last, the stable doors swung open and a bay tobiano trakehner trotted in, prancing in place. As soon as he laid eyes on his protege, he gave a friendly nicker and trotted over to open her stall door. Princess gave a whinny and gave Trouble a friendly nuzzle before she followed him out, her tail swishing. As the sun washed over both of them, somehow managing to pierce through the chilly weather, Princess could feel the excitement in her hooves.

"Tell me, has your human ever taken you to the winter village?" Trouble asked, excitement making his brown eyes seem to blaze.

"No," said Princess. "Not since that time when we went there and they danced."

"Oh, we need to go back, then," said Trouble. "There's a new little creature there, and he wants us to destroy the village."

"Really?" Princess asked, excitement thrilling through her.

"Yes," said Trouble, rearing up onto his hind hooves a little. "We must go back at once!"

"Lead the way!" said Princess, and cantered after Trouble to the sleigh just outside of Jorvik Stables that would take them to the Winter Village. The two horses leaped inside and, in no time, they were standing at the top of the ice slide that would take them directly into the villlage. Or into the houses, as Trouble now demonstrated to Princess.

Ordinarily, a horse crashing into the nice wooden cottages would have been injured. But, in the magic of Jorvik and the spirit of fun, Princess only had a slight bit of pain as she stood and shook snow from her fur. There was still some clumped in her mane and tail, though, but she gave a whinny of delight as she reared up. Trouble also shook himself as he got to his hooves, though the snow stood out a little more against the black patches in his mane and tail.

"I crashed into the cafe a few days ago," said Trouble, gesturing towards the area that smelled delicious with his head. "I needed stitches!" Princess gasped.

"Are you alright?" Princess asked.

"Yep!" said Trouble. "Richard was my nurse." He gave a nicker at the memory while Princess felt relieved that her mentor hadn't been seriously injured. Well, okay, so he'd needed stitches, but he was back on his hooves now, so that was all that mattered.

Together, the two horses trotted around the village, the snow crunching beneath their hooves. Princess followed, wondering what Trouble would do next. She was so intent on following him that she neighed in surprise as her hooves suddenly slid on the ice that she suddenly found herself on. Trouble nickered, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

"Let's skate!" said Trouble. "The aim of the game is to hit Gruggle's sleigh as many times as possible and give Poggle a heart attack."

"Those creatures have names?" Princess asked. Trouble snorted.

"I forgot that you haven't been here much," said Trouble. "Now I can teach you how to wreak havoc in the village."

"Let's do it," said Princess, rearing up on her hind legs. But she wobbled as she set her front hooves back down, sliding a short distance away from Trouble.

With Trouble's guidance, Princess quickly learned how to navigate over the slippery ice. It was just a question of putting enough pressure on the ice to remain still while not putting too much pressure, which would result in sliding out of control and ending up in a snowdrift on the shore. Which happened often.

"One hundred points!" Trouble cried as Princess rolled around in the spot where Poggle had been standing before he'd dived out of the way of the oncoming fleabitten connemara.

"Hey! You two!" Trouble and Princess both pinned their ears at the voice, but then Trouble gave a friendly nicker as he saw the helper who was gesturing them over. This helper stood on a table by one of the houses, and Princess thought that she could remember passing him on their way into the village.

"That's Bungle!" said Trouble as he cantered over to the helper and skidded to a halt in front of him. Princess did the same, showering the helper with the snow kicked up by her hooves digging furrows into the snow. "He wants us to destroy the village."

"Really?" Princess asked, ears pricked.

"Yeah!" said Trouble. "He can't understand us but just listen, he'll tell us."

"You two look like you're looking for trouble," said Bungle. Princess and Trouble both nickered.

"I think I'm right here," said Trouble. Bungle ignored them, of course, not being able to speak the language of horses.

"Destroy the village for me and I'll give you both a Christmas Wish," said Bungle. "Santa won't care how you got 'em. Oh, wait, it's not Santa they get handed into now. Uh. My colleague at the ice cave won't care, I'm sure. Besides, chaos is what Christmas is all about!"

"This guy gets it," said Trouble.

"He does," said Princess. "So what do we do?"

"This!" said Trouble and took off, leaving Princess in his (snow) dust as he careened around the tree. Little helpers were either knocked out of his way or dived out of the way if they were fast enough, to Trouble's amusement. Princess gave a whinny and followed her mentor, bowling over the helpers that Trouble hadn't managed to bowl over or scare away. Around the Christmas tree they went, followed by leaping over two tables decorated with Christmas cookies. Trouble slowed for a moment to snag a cookie, snapping it up into his mouth and munching on it. Princess did the same, though she also accidentally trampled some cookies underhoof. Oh well, Viktor could clean them out of her hooves later.

The two horses wove between houses, leaping over a sleigh that was ready to take off. The reindeer panicked, rearing up and squealing, and Princess only felt bad for a moment that they were tied up to the sleigh. But it was worth it when the reindeer took off, a helper running after the sleigh before it crashed into a shop.

But then, something strange happened. Princess felt a tingling on her coat and, before her eyes, Trouble turned into a grey-coated reindeer. She glanced down and saw that her hooves were now cloven. She skidded to a stop and circled, trying to see herself. But of course, that was rather difficult.

"You look like me," said Trouble, waiting on a shelf of snow that connected the top of the fence to the roof of the enclosure that sold reindeer powder. "Come on, we get to fly next!"

"Fly?" Princess echoed, another thrill of excitement passing through her. She gave a nicker and hurried after Trouble, leaping the fence and following him through the sky. Bizarrely, a few helpers floated here, hanging from balloons, but it was all too easy to pop the balloons underhoof or get the strings snagged around legs or reindeer antlers. Trouble and Princess didn't care, of course, having far too much fun. And then, Trouble called out to Princess again.

"Hold on, this is the part where we fly!" Trouble called as he leaped over the star at the top of the Christmas tree. Princess gave a confused whinny that turned into a squeal as the star launched her through the air. Fortunately, she had the soft landing of a few cardboard boxes full of clothing, which was quickly scattered over the snow. Zingle, the helper in charge of clothing, gave a cry of dismay as he fretted over his displays being ruined, his precious clothing being trampled under the hooves of the horses. But Princess only barrelled through a wall of wooden crates, tossing her still-antlered head to fling crates everywhere.

Between the two of them, Trouble and Princess even managed to destroy a snowman that two helpers were building. Unfortunately, after running back through the village, sleighs began to fall from the sky. Princess whinnied in fear, skidding to a halt as the first sleigh slammed down in the snow in front of her. Trouble trotted back over, though, tossing his head. He had a sock stuck on one ear, which he was now twitching madly.

"See? Wasn't that fun?" said Trouble.

"That was amazing!" Bungle cried, answering Trouble without meaning to. "Wow, you two really are trouble-makers. Feel free to come back anytime!"

"Oh, shoot, I should've brought my saddlebags," said Trouble as he took the proffered golden Christmas Wish in his mouth. "Well, at least we had a nice chat before we got here."

"Aww, it's not chocolate," Princess complained as she bit down on her coin. She flinched as the angry voices of injured or frightened helpers reached her ears. "We should go home."

"Hmm. You're probably right," said Trouble, glancing at the growing angry mob. One helper even held a flaming torch. "Race you home!"

Louisa and Viktor were just arriving back at Jorvik Stables from their training route when two naughty horses slunk through the front gates of Jorvik Stables.

"What," said Viktor, staring at them as he held Champion's lead in his hand and stared at the bedraggled Princess. The snow had started to melt in her coat now, leaving her just a little wet, and she'd recently become aware of the fact that she had a pair of pants over her back. She couldn't seem to get rid of them.

"Trouble, why?" said Louisa, rubbing her forehead and shaking her head. She had Honeymint on the other end of her lead.

"I guess we should clean these two up," said Viktor with a sigh. "Where do you think they've been?"

"The Winter Village. But honestly? I don't think Trouble is entirely to blame here," said Louisa as she took the golden Christmas Wish from Trouble's mouth and wiped the horse slobber off on her warm winter jacket. "Bungle has at least some responsibility."

"He's encouraging them," said Viktor.

"He is," said Louisa, frowning as she stuffed the now-dry Christmas Wish in her pocket. It had teeth marks in it, as did Viktor's once he managed to grab it from Princess' mouth and dry it off on his jacket.

"Come on, you two, we've gotta get you clean and dried and then fix up the Winter Village I guess," said Viktor. Princess followed him after seeing that Trouble was following his rider and nosing at her pockets for treats.

"Trouble," said Louisa, turning and looking him in the eye. "I cannot express this to you enough: naughty horses do not get treats." Trouble lowered his ears, looking truly morose. "I don't care how sad you look, you're not getting any treats from me."

"And you're not either," said Viktor, giving Princess a meaningful look. Princess tried on the same look as Trouble, but Viktor was apparently immune to puppy eyes. Or maybe he really was that annoyed. "I really hope this doesn't put us on the naughty list."

"I mean, if we're not on the naughty list because of other things, I think we're safe," said Louisa. Viktor shrugged.

"Fair," said Viktor. After putting Champion away, he began to clean out Princess' hooves, wondering aloud how she got gingerbread in them and if the scraps of clothing were from bodies.

"We'd better not be going back to a crime scene, Trouble," said Louisa as she plucked out a green scrap of cloth from Trouble's hoof. "I happen to like that place, I don't want to be banned."

Princess and Trouble caught eyes above their stalls, though, and gave each other a knowing look. There would definitely be a return to the Winter Village in their future.


End file.
